Friday letters: Health care, Medicare, Vladimir Putin

1of2House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin walks to his office on Capitol Hill in Washington Thursday, as he and the Republican leadership scramble for votes on their health care overhaul in the face of opposition from reluctant conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, STF

Regarding "Repeal and disaster" (Page A31, Sunday), I am old enough to remember when health care was affordable, more accessible, entailed minimal paperwork and few people had "insurance" for it.

I watched "health care" devolve into high deductible and insurance premiums, vast paperwork and less "health care," and your "solution" is more and worse.

Your editorial betrays the ignorance of thinking socialism would work for health care any better than it has worked for anything else. Those of us who have watched the debacle of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare and how destructive it has been to the people forced to use it know that government socialism is not the answer.

Obamacare failed and U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Houston, and President Trump are doing what we the people elected them to do.

Merry Wise, Willis

Which side of history?

Regarding "Manafort had $10M contract with Putin ally" (Page A6, Thursday), every day I wake up to another story about the deep ties that existed and appear to still exist between the Trump campaign/administration and the Russian government under the authoritarian control of Vladimir Putin.

Amazingly, most in the Republican Party, intoxicated by their return to power, are willing - nay, eager - to portray it all as "fake news," put forward by a bunch of sore-loser Democrats.

The moment is fast coming where Republican lawmakers are going to have to decide whether love of country trumps love of party, or more to the point, love of power. Sometime soon they're going to have to decide if they want to go down in history as complicit political hacks or as honorable statesmen. I pray that when that moment comes, it is the latter.

David Bradley, Spring

Medicare for all

Regarding "House GOP revises health care plan; Trump rallies support outside capital" (Page A11, Tuesday), as part of their campaign to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Trump and congressional Republicans often point to states that have only one insurance provider and the cost of health care policies in those states. But they fail to mention that Medicare, the government-run program for Americans over 65, does not face the same problems in those states.

One of the problems with Obamacare is that it gives too much power to the independent insurance companies. Unlike Medicare, the insurance companies decide which regions of the country they want to participate in and set the rates for the policies and the deductibles.

If Trump and the GOP are serious about improving health care for millions of Americans, especially those living in states where the insurance companies have decided not to compete, they would amend the Affordable Care Act to include a government option that is tied to the rates in the Medicare program.

Doctors and hospitals throughout the country accept Medicare for people over 65. There is no reason the program cannot be extended to include people under 65, especially in regions of the country where the insurance companies have decided not to offer competitive policies.

Bill Meyer, Kingwood

Arctic tundra changes

Regarding "Warming, taller shrubs may affect birds breeding on tundra" (HoustonChronicle.com, March 3), many people do not realize or are unaware of what is happening in the Arctic. They do not understand that the increase of shrubs that are encroaching on higher latitudes has forced a variety of animals living in them to move as well.

Moreover, the Arctic is facing numerous changes. Not only have trees and shrubs been encroaching on tundra, but studies have also found that there has been damage from thawing permafrost, which is more dangerous than people think because it releases methane into the atmosphere and is a powerful greenhouse gas that leads to climate change.

It's important to address these issues because it is humans who are creating these changes.

Mason Tuck, Austin

Opportunity knocks

Regarding "Border Patrol's rodeo visit called 'kind of rude' (Page A3, Monday), what is so 'rude' about offering job opportunities at a rodeo performance? What better place to recruit Spanish-speaking people who might be interested in law enforcement with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol than at "Go Tejano Day" at the rodeo?

Opportunity is knocking and maybe there is someone out there looking for a job. What would you have them do, be politically correct and not set up a job booth at the rodeo just because it might offend someone who is undocumented?